September 10th night was a real blast for all the Armenians as the national chess team returned home.
Armenian National Chess Team in Istanbul
Armenia’s National Chess team, which is now triple Olympic champion, became the winner of 40th World Chess Olympiad two days ago. Armenia emerged victorious from 9 out of 11 matches. It only lost to China and drew its match against Russia. During the last tour in the Olympiad, which was taking place in Istanbul, Turkey, Armenian national chess team defeated Hungary’s national chess team with a score of 2.5:1.5. The Armenian national team was represented by Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Hakopian, Gabriel Sargissian, and Tigran Petrosian.
The top-seeds were Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, China, and the U.S., respectively. Armenian team shared the first place with Russia with 10 points, but additional points played a decisive role on choosing the champions. All players of our team and the team coach became the gold medalists of the Olympiad. Besides, Levon Aronyan and Vladimir Hakopyan received medals for individual achievement. Another gold medal was given to Levon Aronyan for reaching the best score: 7 points out of 10 possible on the first board.
President Sargsyan meeting the champions in the airport
Before the champions returned to Yerevan, a huge ceremony was organized to honor them. The president of Armenia Serj Sargsyan met the champions in the Zvartnots International Airport, after which a meeting was held in the president’s residence. The champions were given medals and wreathes. Fireworks lit up the Yerevan sky and social media was buzzing with excitement and pride as our national heroes came home victorious. The streets of the city were thundering with cheers during the whole night.
For the first time Armenian team became an Olympic champion in Turin, 2006. Then our national chess team won the Olympiad of 2008 in Dresden and became a world multiple champion.
